Stuck in the Headlights

Warm fingers gripped my arm in the darkness. I didn’t want to turn around, but I couldn’t help myself. I swung my body around faster than I meant as I got a good look at him. He was eerily tall and wore black sneakers like mine (I couldn’t help, but notice). He had a black hoodie that covered most of his face, but I could see the hint of a smile and a bit of short brown hair peeking out of the top of his hoodie. I wanted to scream, but no words came. I tried to rationale my thoughts. Maybe he was just lost or needed to use my phone.

It was around 1:00 am on the beach and there wasn’t another soul in sight. I felt my heart beating as fast as a train and I noticeably shivered despite it being summer in Florida. The wind picked up a little and I noticed his smile growing. I audibly swallowed. After a long moment he finally spoke. “What are you doing out here so late, a girl your age shouldn’t be out so late.” I somehow found the words to respond. “I couldn’t sleep..I thought I’d go for a walk.” I gulped again. He smiled. “Well it’s dangerous for a young girl to be out like this.” He fingered for something in his pocket.

I raised my eyebrows and I felt my eyes widen. I was unfortunately too slow though. “Come here!” He yelled as he pressed the knife to my throat. I let out a scream before he covered my mouth. “Shut the hell up!” He yelled again. He threw me down on the shallow edge of the ocean and started to choke me. My vision was going in and out, but I got a good look at his eyes. Something about the deep baby blue of them felt familiar. I had seen them before. Before I could even try to place them I felt him let go of my throat. I heard him say “This is for my brother bitch.”

The next thing I felt was the knife as he stabbed me in the chest not once, not twice, but three

times. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but this was personal. I gasped out for air as he kicked me hard in the chest and quickly ran off. I felt my breaths becoming shallow. I tried to process why this random man had done this to me, but I was coming up short. It was getting harder to breathe. I tried to turn and saw the shallow end of the ocean turn bright red. I gasped out again trying to force a scream from my lips, but nothing came. I didn’t want to die, but the pain was horrific. I had nothing to compare it to, not even the time I almost cut off my thumb with a power saw when I was six.

I didn’t want to give in to my fate until I could piece this puzzle together? Who was this man and what was he talking about when he said this was for his brother? It was getting harder and harder to piece together coherent thoughts, but I clenched my stomach and fought through the pain. There was still no one in sight. I had to laugh (inside of course) the beach was usually crowded, but when I was about to bleed out there was no one. I continued to try to piece together this mystery. I thought about my life up to this point in my life.

I was 21-years-old and I would never get any older. I would never get married, have kids, have an actual career. So much for all that money for my degree. I tried to laugh out loud, but when I did I just spit up blood. Pity this was my favorite shirt? I tried to focus, I closed my eyes and it became clear. I widened my eyes in horor when I realized where I had seen those eyes before. It was right before senior year of college so not even a year ago.

I’d just turned 21 and I remember stumbling out of the club into my car. My friend Karen had asked me if I was sure I could drive. I told her I had done it plenty before and the horrible thing was I had, but I never got caught. I snorted, why would a college-educated white girl ever get in trouble? I was so trashed I didn’t even feel anything when we collided with the truck. It was

honestly never even something I thought about I didn’t remember much. There was a slight smell of blood and grimaces of the total truck that came back to mind, but not much else. The man with the deep baby blue eyes was distraught, he was the only survivor. I’d killed four people and got off on a technicality. I sighed as I tried to embrace the cold water one more time. I used to love the ocean, but now all I could think was how if I did live I would forever associate it with the smell of death. It was eerily quiet when I heard someone walking by. I let out a scream, but she had headphones in. I started to yell louder when I suddenly heard a loud gunshot go off. I tried to sit up, but I spit up more blood as I did this. I could just barely make out the woman with the headphones features.

She was laying down on the ground not moving with a large bloody wound in her head. Just as I was about to yell again another gunshot rang out and hit her again. I started to cry loudly when I noticed a dark figure in the distance. I widened my eyes and I could feel my heartbeat again. It was the same man with the dark baby blue eyes. I tried to speak, but he cut me off. “I thought you might still be alive, this one is for my friends!” He yelled as he shot off three rounds point-blank in my chest.